Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Coincidental Truth

Yesterday I opened an envelope from Young America's Foundation, the successor organization to Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative student organization whose magazine I used, many years ago, to write a regular column for. It was a fund raising letter, obviously a mass mailing, and started "Dear friend."

It was signed by Dana Rohrabacher, currently a congressman from southern California. Forty some years ago he was a libertarian activist and a folk singer.

I could be wrong and I could be confusing him with another CA congresscritter like Campbell, but I think Rohrbacher got on board with this second round.

If I am wrong, I am wrong and I apologize, but whether he supported this particular act of economic heresy or not, I think the man has sinned against the church of Capitalism a few times at least in the past so, he's guilty either way in my mind.

Incidentally, I believe William Norman Grigg has mentioned him a few times on his blog, and in a not very flattering light. If memory serves me right (and let's not pay too much credit at this point!) it was about his connection to roughneck authoritarian cops in Orange County and parts of Arizona, and his stance on immigration.

I encountered Dana in the flesh a while after writing the post. We were both speakers at an event of Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian group.

Dana was a strong anticommunist way back, so more interventionist in foreign policy than I am. But from time to time I notice a reference in the news to him doing something of a generally pro-market sort. He was one of the sponsors of a bill to prevent federal prosecutor from prosecuting people using medical marijuana where it is legal under state law. I don't know what his view on immigration is.

He is indeed the West Coast Libertarian Troubador whose lyrics I quote at the beginning of Machinery.